Beyond Recognition
by MizuAndAzalashi
Summary: Armin has lived here for a long time, however, does not seem to ever encounter others, as if the town itself was empty and lifeless. This is proven wrong after he meets Annie Leonhardt, who, he, unexpectedly, befriends. Together, they discover new people within the town, and Armin shows Annie a new aspects of life she had never known. Contains AruAni, ReiBert, MikaEre, and LeviHan.
1. Chapter 1: The Girl with Flaxen Hair

**Okay! So... this is my first fic. How do people write? Well, anyway, I decided to do this because there just isn't enough Armin/Annie stuff, so I decided to contribute to it a little. I would draw a picture, but too bad I'm on an art block. But great news is, that thanks to that, this fanfiction was booooorn. Multi-chaptered, and I'm aiming to make it as long as possible for your enjoyment. I'm currently pretty busy with school, but I'll try to update chapters as quickly as possible! Next chapter is going to be posted on August 29 or 30!**

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Armin Arlert stared out of his window, seeing nothing but a vast road covered in dirt. Not even cars were to be found. The town was dull, aside from some brightly colored trees, which were all as green as can be. Nothing stood out too much, because everything seemed to be all the same; boring and plain. Armin closed the window and sighed. Every day was the same to him. The only thing he had to do aside from studying and going to school was read books. Occasionally, he'd go out to visit his two best friends, Eren and Mikasa. But usually, they were the ones that would visit him instead, which was ironic, because they lived in a lively, bustling city, while he lived in such a quiet, dull little town. Armin had chosen to live here though, instead of with Eren and Mikasa in the big city of Zhiganshina, their hometown, which was recently reclaimed from the crazy bandits that invaded it, killing thousands of residents. Armin, Eren, and Mikasa were all involved in the plan to reclaim it. They were in the military a while back, but now that everything was normal again, they could finally go back to their everyday lives. Instead of coming back to the big city, however, he decided to start fresh in life again. He was allowed to live alone, and was even loaned money to pay off for his new home. The reason why he had chosen this place was because it was peaceful and quiet. Not many resided here, obviously. There wasn't anything special about this place. It felt somewhat very empty most of the time, as if life was scarce. The small town here was more popular to independent people, often living alone, without family or others. Armin was pretty social though. He was more adapt to life in the city than in a small town. It was hard work, but Armin pulled it off well.

Armin seemed too social of a person though to be almost entirely secluded from others, however. It wouldn't be long before he'd try to make himself some new friends, otherwise, he'd probably move back to Zhiganshina. He longed to be surrounded by other people which he would soon befriend, and so he finally went outdoors for once.  
Armin opened the front door and stepped out onto his porch. He scanned the area for people he could interact with, but failed to find anyone.  
"Oh… I guess I'll just have to find people another way. Maybe I could try to befriend the neighbors?", Armin thought to himself.  
He stepped a few feet away from his house, looking around once more to see if he had missed anything, and in fact, he did. He caught a glimpse of a blonde teenage girl from the corner of his left eye. He immediately turned to see the beautiful girl sitting at her front porch, picking the petals off a daisy. Her figure was small and thin, seemingly very delicate and gentle. The girl had her hair tied up in a messy bun on the back of her head, bound together by a single, small rubber band. Her appearance was simple, but that was what made her attractive. At first glance, Armin couldn't help but feel slightly infatuated and connected with her. He couldn't resist trying to talk to her.

"Ahem," Armin cleared his throat loudly, trying to get her attention, but miserably failed. She ignored him and continued picking at the daisy she was holding in her tiny, fragile hands. He had no choice now but to speak up.

"E-Excuse me. Hello!" Armin nervously shouted out to the girl.

She turned her head slowly to greet him, only giving a little nod to show that she acknowledged his presence. She said nothing, however, and continued to remain silent as she watched Armin fiddle around.

"Um… Hi," Armin restated.

The girl rose an eyebrow.

"Hm. Didn't you already say that…?" she asked plainly.

"Yeah. I just…" Armin paused for a while.

"You just... yeah?" she repeated.

"I just wanted to make some new friends, that's all," Armin shrugged.

"I don't think you found the right person for this kind of situation. I'm not exactly very friendly," the girl said coldly. She then proceeded to throw the remnants of the daisy elsewhere, and instead, started to play with her bangs.

"You should at least have one friend though, I'm sure there are people who like you," he sighed.

The girl with flaxen hair stared up at him with a blank expression. She looked angry, even naturally.

Armin started to panic slightly. Did he say something wrong? Or maybe she was just in a bad mood today, perhaps. He stuttered and tried to say something else.

"C-Can… I mean, uh, do you… know anyone around here?" Armin interrogated while trying to act calm, but once again, failed.

"Yeah, I know them. But I hate all of them. They're so boring," the girl replied.  
Armin didn't know how to react. She wasn't at all what he expected. Not delicate, or gentle, or kind. She was more to the ignorant, mean, messy, laid back and carefree side. Nevertheless, this wasn't enough to get Armin to back down. He believed he just needed to get to know her better. He thought maybe he should just start with the basics.

"So, what's your name?" Armin started off.

"Annie," the girl answered.

"Annie…?" Armin threw out more questions.

"Leonhardt. Annie Leonhardt," Annie said without expression.

"Ah! That's a really nice name. I'm Armin Arlert," Armin smiled.

"Thanks," Annie looked away a bit.

He felt his face redden more and more by the second. Armin was blushing, and he was blushing badly. He tried to hold it back, but it didn't work. Surely enough, Annie didn't notice. Annie didn't notice anything unless she wanted to. She didn't have to. What good would any of it do in the first place, anyway?

"Annie?" Armin spoke again, breaking the silence.

"Uhum?" Annie let a single word slip out.

"You do have friends, don't you?" Armin allowed his curiosity to run freely.

"… I suppose you could call them that," Annie hesitated, unsure of herself.

"You look like the type of people who are always alone," Armin grinned slightly.

"Spot on," Annie dully remarked.

"Do you have any folks around?" Armin questioned.

"Yeah. I live with my dad. My mom isn't around anymore. She's somewhere else really far away," Annie stared into the sky, and for a second there,

Armin could sense some emotion coming from her. Even the slightest sensitivity, he could feel. After all, he was really good at seeing through people.

"My parents are in the same place," Armin looked up with her and smiled calmly. He came over to sit next to her. His legs were tired from standing up the whole time.

"You do know you're not in your yard anymore, right?" Annie looked at him, "You're on mine now."

"Oh… Are you uncomfortable with it? Do you want me to go back?", he stopped for a while.  
After a pause, Annie decided it was alright and gestured him to sit down.

The two spent quite some time just looking up into the sky without saying any words. What was there to say to each other, anyway? They'd just met. There wasn't too much to do, so becoming hypnotized by the clouds wasn't exactly unusual.

"Do your friends live around these parts?" Armin asked.

"Yes, very. A few feet away, actually," Annie stated.

"Eh? You mean, you could walk there right now if you wanted?" Armin was astonished.

"Uhuh. Of course," Annie pointed to the house to the right of Armin's house.

"I didn't know anyone lived there!" Armin exclaimed, shocked.

"I'm surprised. They're pretty noisy fellows," Annie chuckled almost silently.

"I never see them. Man, I really don't know the people around here very well," Armin playfully joked around.

"I don't blame you. We've known each other since we were young, so basically we kind of grew up together," Annie stared at the house for a long time.

Armin knew how that felt. He had childhood friends, too, remembering Eren and Mikasa. Except now, he was a little more distant to them than before, because he didn't live nearby. He missed them a lot, but being away from them was acceptable. It wasn't like he'd never see them again. He could go visit any time. He just decided not to.

"I want to go there," Armin looked at Annie straight in the eye, "I want to meet your friends."

Annie's eyes widened.

"What?" she questioned, still surprised.

"I mean it," Armin firmly said.

"I-If… you insist so...!" Annie's tone lightened up, but not precisely in a good manner. She sounded hesitant and even nervous if you thought about it.

"Alright! We can go!" Armin immediately got up and walked quickly towards the house.

The girl with flaxen hair quickly followed behind.


	2. Chapter 2: Reiner's Cooking Class

**Sooooo sorry that this took forever to come out. I know this was supposed to be out like 2-3 weeks ago, but I was really busy with school! As an apology, I made this chapter longer than I originally planned to. Also, notice that the ending was kind of rushed (because I need to go to bed right now, and I'm posting this real quickly), so forgive me for anything terrible here. I'm going to try hard to make sure my next chapter comes out on time. I need to keep my promises! Next chapter comes out September 20-21... Thanks for reading, anyway!**

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Armin gave the door two light knocks. No one answered, so he did it again. The results were the same, and Annie was growing impatient. She pushed him aside before proceeding to bang the door loudly and continuously until a tall male with short, neat, black hair opened the door. His bangs hung across his forehead, similar to Armin's, but shorter. He was thin, and yet had a decent amount of muscle. He towered over both of them, so he had to look down to see them. His eyes widened, flickering with an indescribable gleam upon seeing the two guests at his door, but it mostly seemed to be directed toward Annie's presence.

"Annie! Y-You're here…" the guy said with a shock in his voice.

"Yeah."

He didn't really notice Armin. It was like he was ignoring him, in fact. He was solely focusing on Annie. It bothered Armin, but not a whole lot. Not enough for him to say anything about it, anyway. Suddenly, the guy's eyes flashed over to Armin.  
"Who's this?" he asked calmly.  
"He lives next door to you guys. His name's Armin. He just wanted me to show him around the neighborhood. Good enough answer for you, Bertholdt?"

Annie's eyes became sharp with a glare.

"O-Oh! Well, why don't you two come in?" Bertholdt invited politely.

He led them inside and seated them both on the couch in the living room. Rumbling sounds could be heard from the kitchen, which wasn't too far from where they were sitting. Bertholdt gave a nervous laugh at this as he gave the back of his neck a light scratch. From the kitchen, you could see a tall, blonde, husky man rushing and darting into the living room in a seemingly unnecessary panic. He was wearing a silly apron that was stained badly, due to cooking. His figure was bulky and manly, and he looked like he was in his early 20's, when in truth, he was just in his late teens.

"WELCOME!" the guy screamed insanely, throwing up his arms enthusiastically to greet the guests.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten that he had been holding a few frying pans, and they all dropped onto the floor with a loud bang.

"Oi, Reiner!" Bertholdt whispered, "I think that's a bit much, you're going to scare the kid!"  
Of course, he was referring to Armin.

Annie looked bored. All she did was sit there quietly and check her phone every couple of minutes. She was already too used to this setting.

"Eh?" Reiner groaned as he studied Armin's face.  
He smirked at Annie, who was now staring him down viciously.

"Who's this kid? He your boyfriend or something?" Reiner teased, letting out a loud laugh.  
He then proceeded to pat Armin on the back a bit too hard, causing Armin to wince in pain.

"Sorry," Reiner apologized.

Annie was growling angrily by now.

"No. H-" Annie couldn't even finish her sentence because Armin cut in.

"I'm just happen to live around these parts, and wanted Annie to show me arou-"

Annie cut him off back.

"We're friends."

Armin became wide-eyed and gasped at her response. She didn't seem like the kind of person to exactly call others her friends, especially someone she'd barely met. Reiner and Bertholdt knew this real well, too, so they were just as shocked. Annie just glared at all of them with her blank expression.

"We're friends," Annie repeated.  
The words rang through Armin's head, and although he was filled with joy, he also felt something very… different. Something he'd never felt before, and it drove him crazy. He was confused. Armin wondered why she'd even consider the thought of them being friends. Sure, it wasn't a big deal, but it was about Annie, so it had to be a big deal. He continued to stare at her silently, his mouth opened wide. As expected, Annie ignored Armin and turned to face Reiner, who was smirking wildly, and obviously too excited for his own good.

"Hmmmm?" Reiner snorted. "How come I've never seen him around, then, if he's a friend of yours?"

"That isn't of your concern. I don't have to tell anyone anything. Especially you, Reiner," Annie continued to answer his question with her usual stoic face.

Reiner was silent for a while. That shut him good, but eventually, he just chucked.

"Tch. That's Annie for you!"

Bertholdt gave a nervous laugh again.

"So Annie, Armin, what brings you guys here today?" Bertholdt asked in a friendly tone.

"Ah, well, I believe Annie's already explained it," Armin smiled.

"Twice," Annie added.

"You wanted to show him around, that's right… Great choice starting here, then!" Reiner patted Armin on the back again, but this time, gentler.

Armin continued to smile, but more nervously now, similarly to Bertholdt, who was sweating like he was on fire. Reiner grinned even more upon seeing these two.

In a way, Reiner thought, these two were really alike.

"Ah, well, since we've only just met, how about we introduce ourselves? I'll start," Bertholdt suggested. He stood up from his seat and took a deep breath.

"My name is Bertholdt Fubar, I'm 18 years old, and I work for a colossal company," Bertholdt started to sweat again.

"Pfffffffffft. Colossal company! Nice going, Bert. Way to make the dumbest jokes ever," Reiner laughed, "Annnnnnd your introduction made you sound like a second grader on the first day of school."

"You always say that I made the dumbest jokes ever, and yet you laugh at all of them. Anyway, I really didn't know what I say," Bertholdt scratched his head, "I just said whatever came to mind."

You could tell he was nervous.

Reiner sighed and gave a slight nod.

"Alright. If that's the case, then I'll show you how to do it properly," Reiner stood up proudly.

He lowered his voice to a whisper, saying, "You gotta add some spice to it."

'Oh boy,' Annie thought. This was going to get out of hand real soon.

"Ahem," Reiner cleared his throat before speaking again,  
"YOTHISISREINERANDIMTHESAMEAGEASBERTHOLDTALSOIWORK INTHESAMECOMPANYASBERTHOLDTWHICHISTHESCOUTINGLEGIO N," Reiner blurted out as fast as he could.

"Um, sorry, I couldn't really understand what you were saying," Armin put it out bluntly.

"Aw. But that's no fun," Reiner crossed his arms.

"Fine, I'll do it again, but only this once," Reiner nodded.

"Yo, I'm Reiner, and I'm the same age as Bertholdt. I also work for the same company that he does, which is called the Scouting Legion Company."  
Reiner smiled, his determination showing, and sat down, nudging at Annie to go next.

"Annie. 17. Done."

She didn't even leave her seat. She wasn't into this, exactly, especially with crazy Reiner around.

"What… What kind of introduction was that…? You didn't even state what you do for a living!" Reiner hissed.

"I don't have to. I just go to school. I live with my father, so I don't have to work," Annie shrugged.  
Bertholdt put his arm around Reiner and sighed.

"I think you should have expected this from Annie," Bertholdt said calmly.  
Armin nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, it's Armin's turn to go now," Bertholdt pushed the kid forward as he stood up.  
Armin looked back at Bertholdt, who gave him a thumbs up. Armin simply smiled to acknowledge his encouragement.

"Armin Arlert. My age is 16, and I live right next door to here. I don't really have a job right now, but sometimes I do volunteer at the library. My hobbies are reading and studying."

When Armin sat down, everyone clapped, including Annie, even if it was a sort of slow and quiet one that wasn't quite right.

Bertholdt stared at his watch and gasped, surprised.

"Hey, guys! It's already 6:00pm!" Bertholdt alerted them.

"Already?" Annie said lazily, slouched in her seat.

"Wow, that was fast. I thought we had gotten here 10 minutes ago," Armin remarked.

"Yeah, that didn't feel like an hour at all," Bertholdt exchanged words with him.

"Since we're all here, why don't you two stay for dinner or something? We can all cook something up real quickly together, if you want," Reiner said calmly.

For the first time that day, Reiner had maintained a calm tone, which Bertholdt seemed to like a whole lot. Annie was relieved, and Armin didn't even mind or notice.

"Yeah, sounds great," Armin and Annie said at the same time. Shocked, they turned to face each other after that.

"That was awkward," Armin tried not to blush out of embarrassment.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really care though. Let's go," Annie said without expression, but she was obviously lying and trying hard not to blush either.

Reiner opened up a rather big cook book and flipped through the pages, scrolling through the words.

"Any of you know how to cook?"

"Just a little," Bertholdt sweated.

"Same," Annie whispered, her voice becoming hoarse.

"Yeah, I know how to cook," Armin responded.

"Good enough. Have any ideas on what to cook?" Reiner asked another question.

"No clue," Annie stated.

"Me neither," Bertholdt gave the same nervous laugh for the third time that day.

"I'm fine with anything," Armin somewhat agreed with them.

"How about spaghetti, then?" Reiner suggested.

"Hm, sounds good," Armin gave a big, bright smile.

"I love spaghetti!" Bertholdt cheered.

"Yeah, that's why I suggested it," Reiner placed his hand on Bertholdt's shoulder gently while whistling.

At this point, Annie wasn't even paying attention anymore.

"Well then, it's settled," Reiner pushed Bertholdt playfully.

Bertholdt pushed him back harder.

"Ow!" Reiner laughed. "What was that for?"

"You pushed me!" Bertholdt seemed mad for the first time that day.

"So? Doesn't mean you have to do it back," Reiner poked him.

"But I did, and what are you going to do about it?" Bertholdt gave a cute angry boyish giggle.

"Stop flirting, you two," Annie finally spoke up.

Bertholdt blushed a bit, and Reiner clenched his teeth.

"Back to the subject, guys," Armin tried to get them together.

"Right," Bertholdt held it together again.

"So… I'll boil the noodles, Annie and Armin will make the sauce, and Bertholdt will make the meatballs," Reiner assigned them all jobs.

"Awwwww! But why do I have to make the meatballs? Those are hardest to make…" Bertholdt whined.

"And no fair, you get the easiest part!"

"It's because you don't have any balls to start with," Annie managed to say with a straight face.

The whole room burst into laughter.

"OOOOOOOOH, nice one!" Reiner laughed crazily and raised both his hands up to give Annie a double high-five, which she returned perfectly. She was trying to hold back a smile.

Bertholdt stood there embarrassed, sweaty, and shaky. He complained a whole ton about it, but he did his work, which was good enough for Reiner.  
As long as Bertholdt got it done, he didn't seem to mind the whining too much. Reiner spent his time loafing around. Boiling noodles wasn't much work, but most of the time, Reiner did the cooking, so this was just a little break for him.

Meanwhile, Armin and Annie were fumbling around looking for ingredients and getting tomato juice all over themselves.

"Annie, this is a really nice looking tomato. Where did you even get it?" Armin interrogated, preparing to cut the ripe fruit in half.

"What kind of question is that? From the fridge. No dur. Where else would I get it?" Annie stared at him sarcastically.

When Armin cut the tomato in half, a ton of juice squirted onto Annie's face unexpectedly.

"Opps! I didn't know that would happen! But that's what you get for choosing the biggest tomato in history. It was full of juice the whole time," Armin laughed.

"Armin, this isn't funny! I'm going to tear your fingers off if you don't stop that," Annie wiped the juice off her face with a napkin.

Armin just laughed harder at her threat.

"Your face is red as a tomato," Armin chucked.

"Since when did you pick up on Bertholdt's bad habit of making terrible puns?" Annie gave a half-smile, which made Armin blush just a little.

"I don't know," Armin grinned.

"Stop flirting, you two," Reiner snorted.

"Shut up, Reiner," Annie turned around to say.

"No," Reiner dared to talk back.

"Whatever," Annie got back to her work.

Soon, everyone was done with their parts, sweaty and messy and with a smile on their faces.

And even though Armin had only just met Annie, he felt close to her, as if he'd known her for a very long time. Annie felt comfortable with Armin, despite being usually isolated from others.

It'd been so long since any of them had smiled as brightly as this...


	3. Special Chapter: Betrayal

**Don't kill me, okay? I did this because I lost a bet and broke that one promise AGAIN...  
I scheduled for chapter 3 to be out like a week ago, but my friend betted that I couldn't, and now I owe her money. And I also betted in addition to that, that I'd be able to post 5 new chapters within last week, so THIS happened. Yeah. I'd have to write something silly.  
Well apparently I couldn't even get half of chapter 3 done. So here you go. The next 5 chapters are definitely coming soon. I'm not even scheduling chapters anymore because I don't even follow through. I'll just try to post a new chapter every day.**

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"anni e bby dunt leaf mi ." ar min sad,, , armin very sad.**  
**  
"2 bad,, , u ug ly and u a lozr, no 1 wana date u," annie scr aeming,

"i m sorr i! ! im surry 4 being 2 ug ly 4 u anni e! u a se xy lady. ,, 2 sex y 4 me ,, i no now !" ar min crei,, he crei in rein ,

"st ill leav ing u 4 eren or bertho dlt ! !1 su ker! " ann ie ye ll armi n,

"w ow wat a bit ch,, , im ga y ani wei, u rlly think i l ove sme lly modafckr liek u? hell no ,, im in luv wit h jean!1" a rmin laug h,,

"hell ye armin bby cum 2 papa" jean s mile ,,

**End of chapter 2.5.**


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